Khai Gala

Khaigala (also spelled Khai Gala) is a town in Rawalakot Tehsil, Poonch District, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It lies near Rawalakot city and is surrounded by villages such as Barmang and Ali Sojal.

Khaigala is situated in the Pir Panjal Range, at an elevation of about 1,600 m. Khai Gala and its surrounding localities are home to a diverse population. The majority of residents belong to the Sudhan (Sudhozai Pathan) tribe, who are dominant throughout the Sudhnuti. In addition, other Pashtun families such as the Lodi Pathans and Afridi Pathans have been settled in Khai Gala for several centuries, living alongside the Sudhans while preserving their Pashtun identity. The people speak Pahari, and the dialect spoken in Khaigala is regarded as one of the “purest” forms, with stronger phonetic similarity to Pashto compared to other parts of Poonch

The town is also inhabited by Rajputs, including a community of Bhatti Rajputs, some of whom converted to Christianity during the British colonial period. Other communities present include Awans and Gujjars, contributing to the multi-ethnic and multi-religious character of Khai Gala.

In the early 20th century, the *Rais of Ali Sojal (near Khaigala)* were regarded as the most influential Sudhan family of Sudhanoti. Other prominent families lived at Neriya Chowki and Kirk.

Several colonial and local accounts describe Khaigala and its surroundings as part of the wider Sudhanoti region prior to administrative changes in the twentieth century. J. M. Wikeley (1915) noted that leading Sudhan families of the area were concentrated in localities such as Ali Sozal (present-day Ali Sojal, near Khaigala), identifying them as influential within what was then considered "Sudhanoti."

Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, in his memoir *The Kashmir Saga*, likewise described Khaigala as belonging to Tehsil Sudhanoti in the pre-partition Poonch district. In his account of 1947, he specifically wrote: "the first conflict that took place with the Dogra Army was in a place named Khaigala, round about Rawalakot area of Tehsil Sudhanoti of Poonch."

Khaigala lies within the historic region of Sudhanoti, which was the heartland of the 1837 Poonch Revolt. This uprising, led by Sudhan chiefs Shams Khan, Mali Khan and Sabz Ali Khan, was one of the earliest armed resistances against Dogra rule in Poonch. Although the revolt was eventually suppressed, it established the Sudhans and their allies as a formidable anti-Dogra force in the region.

According to local oral tradition, several Sudhan leaders including Sabz Ali Khan, Malli Khan, Asghar Ali Khan of Chhota Galla, Baz Khan of Hari, Baland Khan of Hari, Mir Baz Khan of Banjoosa, Kaloo Khan and Fateh Sher Khan of Hamrota, Mahndi Khan of Damni, Muzammil Khan and Sarandaz Khan of Pallangi, Hayat Khan of Jhandali, Jam Dad Khan of Reharra, and Amir Ali Khan of Sojal—were captured and executed by flaying.